Unfortunately, it's not quite that simple. The housing actually contains
two bearings, a regular replaceable ball bearing, and a non replaceable
(see below) needle bearing. If that weren't enough the flange WILL require
a special puller to separate or you stand a VERY good chance of destroying
it while trying to remove it. (I have made a puller adaptor, been there
done that!) The needle bearing that I am referring to is actually
replaceable, but it rides directly on a machined surface of the axle shaft
so when it wears to the point of replacement, the axle needs to be replaced
also (hey I didn't design it) so having a replaceable ball doesn't do much
good. If the ball bearing is the only thing that's bad you could replace
that, but I suspect that the needle bearing would not be far behind, and
having done all the work up to this point the best thing is to replace the
entire axle assy. It should be possible to re machine the axle for a thin
hardened sleeve for a new needle bearing, but I suspect that it would be as
expensive, if not more than a new axle shaft. Bad news I know, but the
best advice I can give. The dust shield by the way, is just press fit on
the axle shaft or at least it was on mine -
Barry Schwartz (San Diego) bschwart@pacbell.net
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